Charlie's Web (A Romantic Comedy)

Chapter 11

The next week or so passed in a blur for Charlie, as she juggled sleepwalking through work with text messages and dates with Jake. Despite the fact she was "getting married" and he didn't seem to want to stop her from going ahead with it, he still seemed keen to date her, sleep with her, and ply her with constant messages about how much he liked her.

As she sat at her desk the following Friday, wondering if she was still drunk from the night before (she and Jake had stayed up until 2am playing drunken strip Scrabble), she was trying to compose a suggestive message to him on her phone when a shadow fell over her.

Aaron.

Of course.

He was looking irritatingly good, despite sporting several days worth of stubble and what might be the world's most battered pair of jeans. If anything, she found herself thinking, he somehow looked even better when he didn't try. It was actually pretty sickening.

"Hey!" she said, more enthusiastic than usual because she was distracted, and immediately kicking herself. Don't be so nice, she told herself, he's a dick, remember?

"Do you have an hour or two?" he asked, looking a bit hesitant, probably surprised at her unusual friendliness. "I need to go have a look at a potential venue for the night out and I could use a second opinion."

Surprised, she glanced at her calendar and saw she had nothing scheduled in for the next couple of hours. Fridays tended to be a bit dead for her. "Sure," she said, hopping to her feet. She was glad she'd made an effort with her appearance once again, wearing a denim pinafore with a black top underneath, bare legs and some yellow sandals. This whole half-dating Jake was helping because it meant she always wanted to be ready in case he wanted to see her, like an on-call doctor ready to deal with an emergency. "Where are we off to?"

"Not far, just down to the river."

After an awkward 5 minute walk to the Clyde, they were on a small boat. "A booze cruise?" Charlie asked Aaron as they waited for someone to show them around. "Is that a good idea?"

"Why not?" he replied, smiling slightly. "It's within budget and it's a bit different, you know Josh will love it."

"Very true," Charlie agreed, choosing not to mention her own propensity to sea-sickness. She was sure it wouldn't be that bad and, worse case scenario, she'd just blend in with the others who would likely be just as sick due to typical work-night-out drunkenness.

"Aaron!" A beautiful blonde girl walked into the office and gave him a very friendly hug. "So nice to see you!"

"This is Charlie," he said to her, gesturing in Charlie's direction. "Charlie, this is Sasha; she's a friend of my sister's."

Sasha looked her up and down, the smile almost immediately freezing on her face before dropping off completely. "Charlie. Nice to meet you," she said, clearly struggling to keep the same warmth she had for the manwhore himself.

Shocker. Charlie tried really hard to hide her eye-roll.

Ten minutes later after a whirlwind tour of the facilities, they were left in the office again to talk it over. "What do you think?" Aaron asked her. "Do you think it's a viable option?"

She nodded. "Definitely. I think you're absolutely right that Josh will love it. And if Josh loves it then we know that no further decision needs to be made."

"Great." Aaron pulled off his dark rimmed glasses and rubbed his eyes. He looked tired, she noticed, and therefore a bit vulnerable . . . which then immediately put her on the defensive because she could not let him fool her.